>> it sounded to us yesterday like a willingness by congressman boehner to go to the president's position of keeping middle class tax relief in play. >> they're pressuring but president obama says then' very wealthy n't need it. still the president and democrats are keeping the pressure on the gop trying to highlight the damage they say republicans have done to the economy. this is a new ad from the democratic national committee. >> tax cuts for thbusinesses. those that ship jobs and profits oversees saving multinational corporations $10 billion so to china and india and mexico, boehner has a message. you're welcome. >> maybe movement on middle class tax cuts is enough to turn the tide. the president certainly needs li it. political watchers point to dec many americans think the president is out of touch with the problems of real people.

one word to describe the president, most answered disappointing. msnbc political analyst richard wolf joins me now from the whit house. the president made this point of blaming the republicans last week of getting in the way of middle class tax cuts and pushing to extend them for the super wlt. why's the presidenat for being ? >> that's a really good question because in the end presidents take the benefit of a good economy and the criticism in a bad economy. everyone wants to blame someone. who else will you go after? economist? is it the big multinational corporation? this case, what you have is an argument for the middle ground. tnally, we're the selection move towal rds the general election kind of voters, this is not the partisan folks that go for the primaries. but what is the reasonable position here and boehner and the white house are arguing here about what is the right approach that is going to appeal to most

voters. the problem for john boehner is some primaries fought out and compromising on this, this ggests maybe the obama economic plan isn't so extreme as republicans suggesting all alone. >> last week "the washington post" laid out this astonishing graphic that showed the tarepublican tax cuts and the t cuts that president obama is proposing. they're prettymuch is same right through all of the different classes untilos you g those who make more than $500,000. any less than that, it's astonishing that member of congress facing an election could go back to their districts an say, yeah, i'm not voting for a middle class tax cut because the super wealthy don't get theirs. isn't that the motivation behind boen's potential support? >> he wants it off the table and make himself look like a friend or at least no an enemy of the middle classes. taxes are a poisonous issue and when you have an insurgent party within the party, tea party,

posing threats to republican candidates across the field, across the geography of the united states, then it's something he has to bear in mind and got to go through with the vote now on what he says is a policy he would agree with or he will have to backtrack and the white house thinks that makes r m look like just anothe politician. that's the kind of debate they want to have more than how about do you turn this economy around? >> richard, thank you very much. but certainly the conversations are crucial right now. everything that happens on the economy because we've just seven weeks before the midterm elections. according to calculations in "the new york times" the gop could take over the house with a 1 in 3 chance of winning 54 seats and 1 in 4 chance of winning 60 feets. politic political predictions put democrats in varyingdegrees of trouble. the director of the uva cnter for politics and he's a presidential historian, larry saboto.

>> thanks so much. >> the prediction here is that the gop could net 47 seats in the house and pick up at least 8 seats in the tosenate. to what do you attribute their potential success? >> oh, it's main e bad economy. look. you know, there are by my count 11 firm predictions on the house of representatives. some are political regression analysis. some rating services like mine and we range from plus 22 republican to plus 60 republican although a large majority 40 or over and of course the republicans need 39 to take control. >> tell me how important it is in terms of turnout. q. the l.a. times" shows that obama's coalition is crumbling, 40% of the adult wills come to the polls. 63% vote in the presidential contests and that democrats really have to worry about unenthusiastic voters this time around.

>> well, that is the basic problem for democrats. although, you know, the numbers you just cited that's because it's the norm. 63% turned out in 2008 for president. the average percentage expected in a midterm election is around 40. that isn't a surprise or unusual. what we look at is who are the 40? do you have one party or the other disproportionately represented in that turnout? and so far at least republicans are much more motivated than democrats. now, you know, it's mid-september. the to mid-september so election's november 2nd. maybe it's possible that president obama and the democrats can manage to get their basic sided beforethen. >> do you think the threat of the republicans taking over the legislature might be enough to get those core democrats, the orters back to the polls? >> i think some of them will get excited or turned on or upset by that.

but remember why their turnout is low. they're depressed because of the economy. they're unhappy about the absence of jobs, about the lack of income growth and it is not that they're going to vote republican. it is that they say i can't vote republican but i don't believe that the democrats have delivered in the way i expected them to in 2008 and then they don't show up. that's often what happens in midterm elect. >> good to see you today. thank you. my big question today. what will it take for the president's die hard supporters to show up and vote this november? i'd like to hear your thoughts. twitter, facebook and my e-mail address. we have some breaking news coming to us from venezuela. hea plane has crashed with 47 people on haboard. it happened near the eastern.ea the at least 23 people survived the crash. rescue workers are tended to the injured. it was owned by venezuela's state-run airline headed to

margarita island when it crasheded shortly after takeoff. as we get in new information, we'll pass that along. authorities in san bruno, california, are searching for four people still missing after a natural gas explosion reduced an entire neighborhood to rubble. and you can see what the neighborhood looked like google earth before thursday's blast. and what it looks like now. which is complete devastation. theexplosion killed at least four people and leveled nearly 40 homes. today, california officials have ordered pacific gas and electric to inspect the natural gas system throughout the state of california. nbc's lee cowan is in san bruno now. where do we stand in the investigation about why the explosion happened? >> reporter: well, still no cause yet. it's going along on two fronts. state and local ordering regulators to inspect some 5,000 miles of the gas lines. they want to focus especially on the high-pressure gas lines and

gas lines near any neighborhoods like here in san bruno. they said they admit that the line was old, it was planning to be replaced and at this point they don't have any idea what caused the rupture in the first place and whereb the ntsb step in. they're taking a chunk about 28 feet long and blew 100 feet from the explosion site and sending it off to washington and try to figure out what caused the rupture. met alpha teague, some kind of construction going on there? there was a sewer line construction project happening back in 2008. that sewer line was rightear the gas line and some people say it could have perhaps compromised that gas line to some extent. we don't know. that's what investigators are washington are trying to figure out. >> you're looking at blocks d blocks here just destroyed. have you talked to some oesf th families seeing what's left? >> reporter: well, they allowed almost 300 people back yesterday. the homes that were evacuated.

they red tagged the homes, some can't go back. uninhabitable. yellow tags where they could go back but not spend the night and then the green tags to stay. here's what some of those verye relieved residents had to ngs i >> i keep thinking i'm going to kiss the ground that i walk in and see my house again. even if it's a mess. >> well, we want to know what will happen after this. you know? are thbuey going to rebuild the house? i want to have a home for my family. >> this neighborhood is anywhere in america. >> reporter: contessa, some of those residents who don't have homes to return to meeting with pg&e officials to figure out the next step and insurance companies. four people are missing and as for a cause, still up in the air. >> thank you very much, lee. firefighters have their hands full with the second wildfire that's broken out in

colorado. air tankers that were fighting another fire just -- that one destroyed more than 160 homes near boulder, those air tanks were bught in to help slow this fire. hundreds fled their homes and crews contained 10% of the new wildfire and already one home is lost. officials are giving reporters an update right now as you can t e and so we're listening in. if we get new information about the fire, we'll bring it to yo. hurricane igor is hauling across the atlantic. the category 4 storm, one of the strongest of the 20 hurricane season so far. tropical storm jsia follows right behind. expert rick knapp joins us from the weather channel in atlanta. give us an update about igor. >> igor is re in the middle of the screen. julia's further out to the east. igor is still a category 4 hurricane and we don't see this affecting land in the next two to three days li that the carib develop but igor is the most significant concern because the winds maximum15 estimated at 1

miles per hour. if it gets above d155, that woud be a categoryh 5ha hurricane, havet had one of thosen the atlantic basin since 27. estimated pressure 933 moving west at 10 miles per hour and due east of the leeward iands. that looks kind of scary for aklks there and pretty confident this is going to take a turn of to the northwest. here's what it looks like on visible imagery. no betnized than at. hopefully we don't see anything looking like this anywhere near land an the most soon that we could sean impact directly on land could be bermuda but they're a small target andm maye miss them and taking a turn to the rth and weaken probably and still a major hurricane late this week or weekend. not sure yet if this will completely miss the east coast justank yet. >> thank you. opponents of don't ask, don't tell hopi to build momentum as a federal trial begins today deciding whether a lesbian flight nurse should be

reinstated into the air force. major margaret wits' case is days after a federal judge in california declared it unconstitutional. she was outed by a girlfriend's upset former husband and so now we're following her case as it goes to trial. we'll let you know what happens. football fans had an exciting weekend with the kickoff of the nfl season bute nothing could beat the excitement surrounding a high school player, a winning touchdown, a death and a resurrection. california's ready to vote on marijuana for fun. how experts think that could end mexico's druwar. we'll be right back. before rogaine, my solution to the problem was to go ahead and wear hats. i was always the hat guy. i can't even tell you how much it's changed my life. [ male announcer ] only rogaine is proven to regrow hair in 85% of guys.

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following breaking news from venezuela where a plane crashed with 47 people on board. this is the first picture

getting of the crash. it happened near an eastern city of pueto araz. at least 23 people survived. rescueare now -- they're helping with theinjured and that plane apparently owned by venezuela state 46 run airline. it crashed shortly after takeoff. we'll keep you posted. of> the south carolina mother accused of killing two of her sons will be in court in about two hours. tops the searcfor stories far and wide. she is expected to ask t lhe jue to let her out of jail before the trial. crews pulled the bodies of two sons out of a river last month. investigators say she confessed to smothering the boys, strapping them into their car seats and then rolling her car into the river. a winning touchdown might have been enough of a story for a high schooler to tell decades om now but this teenager topped it. haywood demonstrate son jr. suffered heart attack moments after scoring that huge td and

then a nurse brought him back to life. she just happened to be in the stands. katherine cook has the amazing > story. >> reporter: it was friday night and down to the wire agait camby, the quarterback passed the ball to demeson who ran it in for the touchdown and the win. >> people were like, oh, he's gone, he's gone. >> reporter: the heart was racing but his pulse never subsided. in fact, it kept getting faster and faster. >> was like, coach, i can't breathe and stuff. i asked him to get the inhauler. >> head been diagnosed with athlete's asthma a few years ago and he thought maybe he was having an episode. >> reporter: but his inhauler just made things worse and he coapsed into his coach's arms. >> sure didn't look likeasthma to me with him being as unresponsive as he was. >> reporter: lisa was in the stands, seconds later, she was

by his side. >> he was not breathin and did not have a pulse, pupils weren't reacng. everybody was shouting at him. at that point, started doing chest compressions. >> he was undergoing the chest compressitions two minutes unti it started beating again. he is out for the rest of the season and will have heart surgery in a couple of weeks and should be back on the field next year. a new snag today as the family of a jailed hikers in iran tries to secure the release. details ahead in "world view." you always end up with something delicious. ♪ triscuit. weave some goodness.

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dramatic video to show you from thailand. heavy rain caused a mud slide, forced a major road to crumble. the road connected several remote areas of the region and downpours caused flash floods. aaron fatheringham was born with spina bifida.

the 18-year-old did something no one else did, he landed a double back flipin his chair. >> what possessed you to try to do a double? >> well, you know, just a next thing and, you know, progression of the sport. >> in 2008 he set theecord for a single back flip in a wheelchair. a poll finds more than three out of fivemericans think it's wrong to build a mosque near ground zero. the imam planning the coroversial center spoke out this morning experiencing anguish over the uproar. >> the events of the past few weeks have saddened me to my very core. i regret that some have misunderstood our intentions.

i'm deeply distressed that in this heated political season some have exploited this issue for their own agendas >> peter bron is the assistant director for quinnipiac polling. >> good afternoon. >> the poll shows people think it's wrong and what does your poll say abo the right for the muslim group to do so? >> well, there's no doubt that americans understand that undei our constitution the people want to build the mosque there have the right to do so. almost three quarters of americans have that view but about 63% think it would be inappropriate to do it because of the feelings of families casualties. >> we are lking at also questions about general opions about islam. 38% have a favorable opinion of islam. 40% have an unfavorable rating

r. you surprised that those are evenly split? >> well, it's a very controversial issue these days. issue to many americans. the mosque obviously is colored obviously, there's a sense among public opinion. some americans, you know, it's the anniversary of 9/11, you know, makes it a controversial really tied 40-38 is a statistical tie of whether or not they have a favorable view of islam. that's what it is. >> and there's a lot of issues that just seems right now and maybe it's because the economy midtermr heading into a election a seems like race and religion landing once again on the front burr. you asked about immigration reform and whether people should integrate illegal immigrants or stricter enforcement. 68% say they support stricter enforcement to deal with illegal immigration. can you draw any broad conclusions about why we're so divided right now as a nation on the way we see people of different races, different origins, different religions?

>> well, on immigration, the strong majority favoring stricter controlnd stricter measures towards illegal immigrants is a product of the controversy and the debate over the arizona law. interestingly, the same poll found that a plurality of americans thinks prest ama doesn't share their values and i would argue that the reason for that small plurality feeling that way is the immigrion issue and the mosque irs. those are two very heavily value laden issues that bring out tempers in people. >> peter brown, good to see you. thank you. >> my pleasure. house minority leader john boehner throws a curveball at democrats. so what does that mean for the midterm elections? also, up for a vote in november. pot. voters in california will decide whether to make tear state the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use. >> lady gaga steals the show but

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all right. we aret getting breaking news from venezuela. a plane crashed, 47 people on board. they're saying the death toll is two people. those people apparently they have already determined to be dead. they know they have 21 passengers injured. the news that i got was that there were 23 survivors and that the rescue crews are trying to tend to the injured. apparently this was a plane going to margarita island owned by the venezuelan government. when we get new information and pictures in, we'll pass them along. house minority leader john boehner might be willing to compromise. the president mentioned boehner

eight times in a single speech alling him adversarial. here's what robert gibbs said about hithis morning on the "today" show. >> think the american people want to know who's leading, who's leading the republicans in this election season. and i would think that congressman boehner would welcome that. i think represents the eight years that got us into this mess. cozy with lobbyists. tax cuts for the wealthy. >> let's bring in luke russert. tax cuts are the big issue. will they nd common ground, the president with the republicans? >> a lot made of john boehner saying he would support the middle class tax cut if tre's the only thing he could get butl sources say aot of house democrats especially vulnerable ones don't want to be seen as tax raisers.like and since they would like to extend the bush tax cuts 100% as well as mr. boehner and by

boehner saying is, he appears to be a compromiser and almost extending an olive branch and knows that democrats would not push this -- democrats won't have the votes for the middle class only tax cuts because people would have to walk the plank looking like tax raisers. interesting strategy. >> i don't understand, though. this idea of tax raisers. are the american people not listening? all they hear is taxhi that's all they hear. do they not understand that it real only affects the wealthiest of americans? what president obama has -- is proposing, what he's pushing fo is very similar to what republicans are proposing for everybody who makes, say, less than $500,000. only after $500,000 it is staunchly different. >> certainly been an issue chos who defines it better. what democrats tried to do is sort of say, look, you give tax ts to billionaires and millionai millionaires. however, when you go into these districts, go into places on the ground like ohio, pennsylvania,

you have a candidate saying my democratic opponent wants to raise taxes -- >> that is all they hear. >> doesn't necessarily resonate. it's hard to make the argument. that's why moderate democrats do not want to be on that side of the fence and why even if it passes the house of representatives, only the middle class tax cuts, goes nowhere in the u.s. senate because there are senators -- >> turn around, though, and say, my opponent opposes middle class tax cuts. >> now boehner said he would support that and essentially maki it an issue of not standing in way of the tax relief. >> good to see you. many americans moved on from tax cuts because they have fallen out of that category. experts expect new numbers to show 45 million americans, 1 of every of us, lives in poverty. listen to this new term popping up. blank collar workers. that's formerly middle class

workers never will be middle class again and listed in "thf new york times" dictionary of very new terms in the future. cnbc's melissa francis joins me now. looking at the numbers of people now joining the ranks of pove y poverty-stricken homeless d it? >> it's really depressing. you weree talking about the census figures for 2009. the poverty rate will jump to about 15%. 45 million americans as you w, mentioned. you know, this is basically because of the unemployment rate in the country right now andok looks like it doesn't get that much better any time soon. a thing we follow at cnbc is companies buying other companies and this is a negative externality of what's goingn with the government and federal reserve putting out money and interest rates so low to stay in the houses. companies are using the money to buy other companies and long run that means fewer jobs buying the second biggest pler, they come

together. that's even fewer jobs. >> and it looks like the families are being hit hardest, child poverty is increasing americans of color are hit harder and when they live in the big cities. >> that's right. a lot of this has to do with the manufacturing base that we have seen leave this country. unfortunately, that started happening long before this current recession. we saw the blue collar jobs, people moving from blue collar to no collar. the manufacturing engine of this country is mainly gone and we haven't figured out how to replace that. >> melissa francis, first time for everything you don't have the answer. >> there you go. all right. >> just kidding. >> thanks. >> no problem. so much to talk about from last night's videods music awar on mtv. taylor swift sang a new song putting an old issue to bed. it addrsed the snafu caused when kanye westid, taylor,

i'm going to let you finish and said she didn't deserve the ard kanye west poked fun at the critics, himself and obscenity-laced song and then lady gaga using the acceptance speech to promote and sing her new song. ♪ baby i was born this way >> wake up, handler. pull it u'together! you're a mess. do you think anyone wants to work with a runk? take it from me, they don't. >> lindsay lohan made a comeback of sorts making lit of her recent legal troubles in a pep talk with show host chelsea handler. who cleaned up big? justin bieber and lady gaga won different awards. that's your wrap-up of the vmas. let's talk about the night' highs and lows. courtney haslett joins us. it's all about the meat dress.

>> i'm at a loss for an explanation other than to say more of the same from lady gaga doing what she does best, the outfits she wears and just on the ellen degeneres show talking about her -- her affection for carnivorous fashions and saying i don't mean to offend anybody. peta's upset about what i wear. i don't mean any disrespect and just. doing her own thing. but i love how she didn't let an opportunity to promote herself go unnoticed there and gave a little plug for her new esalbum >> actresses do it in the past. if i could haveot a slot on "me men" that would be great and now with lady gaga, as well. what about the feud for swift and west? i'm going to let you finish. >> this is ao bizarre moment in time because, really, kanye did not do that much to address what happened. well, taylor swift went to pain staking lengths to sell out

exactly how she felt about it and made her little immature. >> she ia teenager. she could just continue to turn the page which is what she spent the last year doing. i wasn't a fan of that performance. kanye west's performance if i could have understood it maybe i would have liked it i've seen the advertisements, promos for to pra's last season. >> exciting stuff. this is the first episode of the final season. the season premier today and taped earlier in chicago and g news for the audience. you know, oprah audience members can be some of the luckiest of free stuff. i've never been one of them myself but in the audience today, oprah announced in celebration, sending everyone in the audience on a trip to australia. all expenses paid. >> i thought everybody in america. >> not so much. close. 300 people. >> that's got to be good nor australia's economy. thank you. >> you got it.

>> more waiting for thefa families of an american hiker jailed in iran. they want them to pay up to secure the release. battle lines drawn in california over proposition 19, the legalization of pot for fun. supporters and opponents are holding duelling news conferences. we'll have the latest in three minutes. ve t ♪ every day you check the weather, check the time ♪ ♪ check the news online ♪heck the wife, eck the kids ♪ ♪ check your email messages ♪ check the money in the bank ♪ check the gas in the tank ♪ check the flava from your shirt ♪

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risk. president obama and vice president biden trying to do what they can in the next seven weeks to make sure democrats keep control of the house and senate in the midterm elections. thomas gagon wrote a piece for "the ntion" and author of "were you born on the wrong continent." good to see you today. >> contessa. >> let's go through the tips you have for democrats to keep hold ofng the majority. do something for your base. i thought that was what -- >> do something for your base. well, health care reform didn't help our base. itly really ending help people the red states who aren't particularly grateful. it helps the people uninsured and a civilized, decent thing to do but those aren't the people voting for us. we need to do something much more new deal fdr-like covers everybody like raising social security.

not just saving it but saving it to replace the private pensions down the drain. >> is there anything to explain to the base how to pay for something like that? >> there are many ways to pay for it. of course we have to explain to the base. social security is lvent already. all the scare stuff is ridiculous. but we're at 40% replacement income. we can have a goal at least of getting up to one half of people's working income when they retire. other countries do it.an, too. how? bring back the estate tax. lift the cap on t payroll tax. eliminate the debt. your reporter was talking earlier about the corporat buyouts going on fueled with taxpayer debt. taxpayer deductions. get rid of the deductions because that's a waste of capital and use it to fund social security. there are many ways that thiss country could bring its social security up to the level of virtually every other developed country in the world. >> i can hear a lot of peopleg

screaming right now about social security being solvent and so i want to go on the record saying that's not typically the kind of reporting we do about social security and not something that i'm prepared to counter with but in the meantime, back to the plan here, you say if democrats want to do something to keep the majority, keep it simple and have a plan. what do you mean by those two pieces of advice? >> keep it simple so that people understand it. so for example, raising social security to one half of people's income, th understand that. it's not as complicated as the financial reform bill, the dodd/frank health car -- >> simple. >> have it add up to the plan. the plan, contessa, is that if we take a look at the country that is the leading exporter for tied with top for china it is germany. that's a social democracy. we should do what they o. if you provide more benefits to

the ople which the government is paying for and lowered the nonwage labor costs you make these companies much more competitive globally. to get out of debt in this country, we have to get out of ourd trade debt first and above all as your reporter was saying earlier. bring back manufacturing. how do the european social democracies do it? they assume the nonwage costs or lower them and provide public benefits directly to people. that's what we should be doing. like chrysler and gm. we put those ade. we made those companies competitive again. >> yeah. >> here the government ought to be going to medicare, incasing social security. the paradox is we become much more of a social democracy, more come pesive. >> thomas, thank you ry much for your time today. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. secretary of state hillary clinton heading to egypt right now. clinton will meet tomorrow with israeli prime minister netanyahu and palestinian president abbas at the red sea resort in egypt

for the talks. a crippling strike at an israeli airport is over. one day unexpected strike by union workers initiated over union wages and pension ng negotiations. all outgoing flights grounded. all passengers that landed in israel unable get the luggage. that strike was held in the middle of the heavily traveled holiday season. the decision to free an american detained, it's back on. the lawyer for sarah shourd said they're waiting for the bail to post. shourd is held for more than a year with two others on espionage charges but her mother says she may have cancer. nbc's stephanie gosk live in fndon. it appears the family having trouble coming up with the money. >> reporter: yeah, contessa, that's what the associated press is saying. we're trying to confirm that.

may be trying to get it lowered or dropped altogether. unclear how to do that. they have to negotiate through the swiss embassy. the u.s. doesn't have diplomatic ties with iran but earlier today the lawyer was saying that ould that $500,000 come through that sarah shourd will be released ed and that she wie able to leave the country this was a compromise between the judiciary and president ahmadinejad who said on friday through the foreign ministry she would be released outright. the judiciary said that usurped their powers and said'll introduce new conditions, a bail and then also she would have to stand trial probably in absent leaving the country. the other two with her will stand trial, well facing charges of espionage. contessa? >> stephanie, thank you. officials are searching for a baby boy abandoned inside an airplane. airport cleaners found the bay

boy inside a trash bin on sunday. the baby's in good condition at a local hospital. insix health workers includg four americans are free on bail in zimbabwe accused of treating aids patients without proper licenses. they have to reappear in court september 27th. first lady of france painted as a don juan. the book says she invited ex-boyfriends soon after marrying in 2008. the 42-year-old former supermodel accused of being obsessed with plastic surgery. hot on the web today and some of the most viewed stories on msnbc.com, police say they nabbed the major drugarpel leader. they caught him known as el grande during a raid, the fourth major blow to the country's drug

cartels over the last year. is this the most partisan senate ever? why it's been worse. it's the first of the series of exit interviews conducted with senators leaving the chamber this year. doug loss coke lynn gives us a useful dictionary. bell's law of telephony. your monthly phone bill stays about the same. frankentime, what time feels like when you realize that most of your life is spent working in or around a computer and internet. here are my favorites. the explanation why w sing alon don't work without written lyrics. most people don't know the lyrics and that's a word related to lyrical putty. the lyrics onen creates in one' head in absence of knowing real lyrics. what's the lyrics to this?

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just getting in breaking news that capitol police investigating a suspicious substance found on the floor of the house that they have restricted access right now. the house of representatives in washington, d.c. there was a powdery substance found there. the capitol apparently not evacuated. but they have they say the police cleared the areas closest to the floor so right now business is continuing as usual and they're investigating this suspicious substance on the house of representatives in washington, d.c. law enforcement groups are joining the debate over legalizing marijuana. voters in california will decide in november if recreational pot should be legalized. today dea agents announced their opposition to proposition 19. in less than an hour, a group of police officers, judges and prosecutors say why they think marijuana should be legalized. nbc news justice correspondent

pete williams, break down the argument for me here, pete. >> reporter: among supporters in california naacp and number of black police organizations that cite the arrest and jailing of republic african-americans caught with marijuana and among the supporters, former officials of mexico saying if marijuana were legalized and regulated and taxed it would take a huge bite out of the profs of mexican drug carpels. and could very much cripple them. but among the opponents are the current obama administration drug czar and all his predecessors and former administrators of the drug enforcement administration among them speaking today was one of the first dea administrators. >> safety in the streets will be jeopardized. on the highways. in the workplace. everywhere. proposition 19 is simply a

pathwanot to paradise but to disaster. epter: and the other question, of wcourse, is wheth this would generate tax money for california that certainly needs it. >> appreciate that. thank you. breaking news right now we're following out of washington, d.c. wre the house of representatives apparently has an investigation ongoing now because there was a suspicious powder, some kind of substance that was found on the floor of the house of representatives so capitol police have cleared that area near the powder. they have not shut down the capitol. they have not evacuated the capitol nor closed wn any of the entrances but they have cleared the people away from this powdery substance and they're investigating tha right now. as soon as we get new information in about what this might be, we'll pass that along. i'm contessa brewer. appreciateou have watched today. see you back here tomorrow. president obama delivers his second annual back to school speech and voters are heading to ths e polls r primaries in seven states including delaware, new york and wisconsin. up next, savannah guthrie fills

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right now on "andrea mitching reports," turmoil over taxes. but john boehner number two says no dice. they're voting to extend all bush era tax cuts and that's it. this as newam numbers show americans are pessimistic than ever about the president and the pocketbooks. congressman elijah cummings on whether the party in power has a chance of lifting the country's dismal move. and the imam is speaking out now. does he regret planning to build will? >>he> plus, stirring the pot. california's